


hysteria

by bryndentully



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-09
Updated: 2015-09-09
Packaged: 2018-04-19 20:09:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4759382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bryndentully/pseuds/bryndentully
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emily, not Matt, regroups with Jess in the mines.</p>
            </blockquote>





	hysteria

**Author's Note:**

> Some ableist language ahead, as depicted in the game. Inspired by[ this ](http://solasapologist.tumblr.com/post/128589709030/okay-but-guys-imagine-if-emily-was-the-one-to-find) post. It's marked as gen, but feels shippy, kinda.

_“Use these!”_

Aching all over and armed to the teeth with a bag of flares, Emily got up and made herself scarce, more than willing to let the guy with the freakin' flamethrower face down one of those things on his own.

Thanks to the psycho who’d sawed Josh in half earlier-–if a word Chris or Ashley said was true-– _she_ was alive. Somehow. And at the psycho’s expense! He’d saved her. “What gives?” Emily muttered, raising the flare a little higher to see where she was going. The Washingtons were stuck with some fucked up freak on their mountain and now some creeptastic monster in the mines. Perfect, just perfect.

“ _Abandoned_ mines,” Emily corrected herself aloud, wanting something to listen to other than screeching and just as unpleasant silence. If it had to be her own voice, so be it. This voice belonged to the captain of the Debate Team, anyhow-–flawless elocution and poise, even during a night like this. Sort of. “Abandoned mines that _nobody_ told us about, that of _course_ have something awful hiding inside…”

 _Let’s go, let’s go_ , Emily thought, electing to save any verbal complaints for the morning. (If she made it that far.) Keeping her steps light and speedy, Emily made her way through another tunnel, pausing every so often to make sure she wasn’t being followed. It didn’t help that she was already in the lion’s den-– _they_ knew their territory, Emily did not. One mistake and she was totally done for.

Hearing something skitter nearby, Emily darted behind an old oil barrel and counted to thirty, staying out of sight for as long as she dared. Her gaze fell onto the wall alongside her, where bits of chalk littered almost every inch of the surface. She ran her fingertips over the nearest lines, shifting closer to read it.

_Bates, 12/29/1951–To Agnes, Louise…I **won’t** be home for Christmas_

_~~Thynne, 1/3/1952–-still here~~ _

_Herbert, 1/3/1952–-Lord forgive me for Thynne_

Emily winced, got to her feet, and booked it. Nothing like sixty year old graffiti to give you the creeps. It was _really_ time to go.

* * *

Quickening her pace, Emily felt the tunnel begin to slope upward. _Up is out_ , she thought, practically giddy, preferring open air and plenty of space over this craphole anyday.

The slope gave way to–-surprise, surprise-–another tunnel, this one more illuminated than the last. _Probably so the psycho can see who he’s stabbing_ , she thought, a swoop of dread distracting her enough to completely miss smacking into somebody.

The killer? A monster? Matt? _Please_ oh please, let it be Matt.

“Emily?”

"Jess," Emily blurted out in surprise, nearly dropping the flare. The sparks flew in every direction, reddish light illuminating more than enough of Jess to clue Emily in--something was seriously wrong.

"You look like shit! What happened to you? Where've you been?" 

_Guess the R and R at the guest cabin was a bust..._ Emily couldn't help thinking, though a little guiltily.

Shrugging a shoulder of one of the ugliest jackets Emily'd ever seen, Jess gave a doleful look, setting the shovel she'd been carrying onto the ground. Besides the jacket and a pair of boots, Emily's ex-best friend was down to just a bra and underwear. Put against a bunch of new scars and cuts, Jessica had never looked worse for wear. "I fell..."

"Fell _where_?"

Jess made to answer, but Emily was already in motion. "Take this," she commanded, thrusting the flare into Jess's hand.

"What?" Jess asked, talking slower than ever. Emily needed to get her to a doctor, fast. Or Sam--wasn't Sam pre-med? She could help.

“I’m giving you these,” said Emily, shucking off her jeans. Thank God for her instincts to overpack-–she’d layered leggings under her jeans. A little cold wouldn't hurt her, when the mountain had monsters and creeps roaming around. “Wouldn’t want you to freeze to death or anything,” she added, grudgingly, swapping the Levis for the flare after she finished retying her boots. Jessica didn’t move other than to regard the jeans in her arms with pitiful confusion. God, even her _hair_ was making Emily uncomfortable--those pigtails made Jessica look so _young_. Almost like the girl who'd met Emily in ballet class when they were kids, where they practiced _en pointe_ measures until they were sore and silly.

“Why are you helping me?” Jessica asked, finally.

Emily considered a sneer, even another insult, but refrained. Now just...wasn't the time. It wasn't _worth_ it. They were fighting for their lives up here and Jess was so _weak_ and scared...

Emily was high maintenance, even she could admit it. And a bitch, a _lot_ of the time. She could own up to it, whenever. What she wouldn't own up to (anymore) was ragging on a friend--even an ex-friend--in pain. With last year all but permanently branded into her mind, after Beth, after _Hannah_...Emily'd learned her lesson. Or, at least part of it; she'd only go toe to toe with people who could take it, who'd earned it, and could throw it right back.

Hannah didn't earn it, not by a long shot. And now, neither had Jess.

“Because,” Emily elaborated, wishing this felt like pulling teeth instead of a dizzying sense of relief, “in spite of…everything, you’re my girl.”

“Em,” Jessica murmured after a beat of silence, lips not quite stretching into that trademark _Jess_ grin, but pretty close.

“Just put them on,” Emily grumbled, flush on her neck. Jessica complied, smiling absently, before sticking her palm out to Emily.

"Bygones?"

Emily rolled her eyes, but took Jess's hand instead, twining their fingers together. No, that wasn't enough. Emily tugged Jessica closer, momentum dragging Jessica into her arms. Jessica didn’t disappoint; her ~~ex~~ best friend wound a familiar grip around Emily’s waist and rested her chin against Emily’s shoulder, always the shorter one, even when they were little. Emily hoped the hug conveyed _something_ to Jess, things Emily couldn't bring herself to admit yet. _I shouldn't have let Mike pull us apart. Date Mike, just be happy. Stick close--don't push me away, like Josh did._

They stood still for a second, buzz of adrenaline and mind numbing fear abated, albeit briefly. Emily drew away at the sound of a screech, seeing Jessica's shoulders freeze up.

"I'm getting you out of here. Can you walk? We've gotta get moving," said Emily, brandishing the flare again, this time with purpose. Her free hand held fast onto Jessica's, not wanting to risk another separation, mental or physical. And if the exit wasn't nearby, Emily would just have make one. "Come on, I want to put as much distance between us and those Gollum things as we can." Emily's watch beeped--dawn was mere minutes away. Thank _fuck_.

"Please don't ruin _Lord of the Rings_ for me," Jessica mumbled, though she managed a shaky grin.

This time, even Emily cracked a smile.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not really pleased with my characterizations or the length, but I hope somebody will enjoy it!


End file.
